When Chef’s Table debuted on Netflix last summer, we were blown away. The gorgeous docuseries brought the passions of the world’s top chefs to life with miraculous artistry. Naturally, we kind of, sort of, binged our way through it too fast.

Thankfully Chef’s Table is back with a whole new season and a bold new attitude. Season Two introduces us to Alex Atala, Ana Ros, Dominique Crenn, Enrique Olvera, Gaggan Anand, and Grant Achatz. Series creators David Gelb and Brian McGinn opened up to us about what went into the making Chef’s Table and where the series goes from here.

After completing the critically-acclaimed documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi — which you can stream on Netflix by clicking here — director David Gelb had his own dream: a Jiro-style television series that would profile amazing chefs from all around the world. The problem? Everyone he pitched to wanted it to be a traditional foodie show with a regular host.

“We never wanted it to be that. People were telling us that it had to be that. So we had this idea that we were going to make more just like Jiro Dreams of Sushi, but with different characters and make that a series,” said Gelb. “Fortunately Netflix had the courage to be like no we can try a different kind of show and here we are.”

Season Two of Chef’s Table sees the series solidifying its voice. The thrust of each episode seems slightly more autobiographical in tone. I asked Brian McGinn about this and he replied, “I don’t think we really set out to do that. I think that maybe that’s a result of us as filmmakers and those of us who are making the show I think feel more confident this season. Last year we were really discovering the voice of the show and I think this year we’re pushing further.”

He continued, “I hesitate to say that it has anything to do with us. The main things that make the episode good are the chefs. So hopefully they do have a little bit of an autobiographical feel because we want it to really feel like they’re the ones telling the story.”

So how does Chef’s Table find these amazing chefs with amazing stories? McGinn said, “From the very beginning we had a list of probably thirty people that we thought were really great and honestly it has grown tenfold since then. I think the thing that’s been interesting for us is that as soon as people have seen what we’re doing, there are all these stories that might not fit into the traditional landscape of food television that can fit into the landscape of what we’re doing. So I would say every week we’re learning and discovering a couple more incredible stories. It’s really awesome.”

Of course, not every brilliant chef can make the cut. The personalities profiled on Chef’s Table all have to have a unique backstory. Gelb explained: “We really research our chefs deeply as much as we can to make sure the story is there. I mean really it’s about are the chefs willing to commit the time necessary to do the show.”

“David likes to talk about what is a “superhero origin story” to these people,” said McGinn. “We don’t get excited about the idea of the ‘celebrity chef.’ That’s not really we’re not choosing someone because they’re the most famous person in the world. We’re choosing them because they’re passionate and they have an amazing story to tell.”

“We make sure that they have the backstory or origin story that’s going to be inspiring,” explained Gelb. “We’re always looking for chefs that had challenges in their life, that overcame those challenges, that they have a vision that they’re unwilling to compromise on and see it through until the end.”

“And then they always make mistakes. Every inspiring story involves someone who’s talented and then they’re trying to do something and then they make some kind of awful mistake or something and then it turns around,” said Gelb. “Like we’re always kind of looking for stories that have those sort of hills and valleys.”

The other thing that unifies all of Chef’s Table‘s subjects is that they are all elite chefs. They are considered the top of their game and are heralded throughout the world. Of course, there’s a double edge to this: Chef’s Table is representing only one side of an ever-widening gulf between elitist cuisine and what everyday Americans actually put in their bodies.

Gelb owns up to this a bit: “Well I’d say that on our show we lean into, we certainly have in the past leaned in to, to doing elite cuisine that’s very expensive. But part of the reason we do that is because we want to share an experience with people that they may not be able to have on their own. So in a way you can kind of live vicariously through the show and experience these meals that you may never have a chance to go to.”

Interestingly, both Gelb and McGinn were excited to talk about how this tone will be challenged in Season Four* — which is currently in production. Two of the chefs profiled in that season will be ramen king Ivan Orkin and Korean nun Jeong Kwan. Both were chosen for their mastery of food and passion for the process.

“I think for me the thing I hope people take away is really focusing on the passion of the people,” said McGinn. “That’s the thing that’s inspiring to me. I don’t think we expect people to go out and cook like Magnus Nilsson did or to be able to go out and cook around a fire like Francis Mallmann in the middle of Patagonia. I don’t think that’s the goal. I think for us what you can you take away from these people is not so much the recipe, but the way they approach life.”

These chefss exquisite approach’s to life is what imbues Chef’s Table with its artistic voice. Gelb explained, “These tasting courses really lend themselves to storytelling because in the same way that movies have a beginning middle and an end so do the tasting courses. If you remember from Jiro Dreams of Sushi the food critic Yamamoto makes this point about how the meal is like concerto. You know it has a structure to it and a flow and that really lends itself well to the series.”

In fact, the beautifully shot scenes of food in the series are lovingly referred to as “food symphonies.” Which begged the question: Which meal was their favorite to shoot? (And eat?)

McGinn fondly recalled working on Magnus Nilsson’s episode in Season One. He said, “We actually filmed kind of a roaring fire and it was just a wonderful moment of synchronicity between the place we were trying to capture and the chef’s personality and how great the food was. And it was just a really wonderful night doing that.”

Gelb, however, went back further. His favorite meal — to eat and to shoot – was from Jiro Dreams of Sushi. “It was really just me and my camera sitting at the sushi bar with a lens very close up on where a piece of sushi lands. And so I just sat there with the camera rolling,” Gelb said, before pausing to laugh. “And he would put the sushi down and I would eat it. And then if it was out of focus or if he missed the mark slightly I would have to order another piece and we would do another take. And that was probably one of the best meals of my life.”